- On Wednesday evening, Chris Yelland reported on X that there have been a total of 5 resignations from the Board of the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA) – three non-executive board members, plus the board member representative of the Department of Energy & Electricity (Dr Philemon Magampa), plus his alternate (Ms Bessie Makgopa).
- Dave Nicholls, board chair of NECSA, has confirmed the resignations.
“The leaves the NECSA board inquorate for the time being while the Minister of Energy & Electricity works to appoint new board members,” added Yelland.
It has subsequently emerged that the resignations are due to inaction by the country’s Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, after receiving a report by the Board on excessive, unreasonable and unauthorised executive pay hikes implemented by NECSA CEO Loyiso Tyabashe and CFO Precious Hawadi.
The board moved to suspend both but Tyabashe and Hawadi, accusing them of mismanagement of public funds and a serious breakdown in corporate governance after they authorise the hike of executive pay. The two turned to the courts to stop the suspension arguing that only the minister has authority to suspend the CEO, and since the CEO appoints the CFO, only the CEO may suspend the CFO.
Once troubled with allegations of incompetence and corruption, NECSA has stabilised its finances, posting a profit over the past two years, and improved its performance to above 80%. It also achieved clean, unqualified audits for it and its subsidiaries, with the remaining work being to address some of the findings made by auditors.Earlier this year, Tyabashe confirmed that the state-owned nuclear body is prioritising six programmes, estimated to cost approximately R50 billion. Read more
The ball is now in the ministers’ court to appoint new board members and decide the fate of Tyabashe and Hawadi.
Related news: Troubles at South Africa’s Koeberg nuclear energy plant persist
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
